Books I read in 2024
These are the books I read in 2024. I’ve included a few notes.
Judgment at Tokyo, by Gary Bass. This was a sprawling book. And a long one. I read it on my Kindle, and perhaps that made it seem even longer. But I’m pretty sure it had a lot of words. It was my third favorite of the year. The one thing I kept wishing for, throughout the book, was more of a timeline. For a book about a trial, and a trial about war crimes, I would have appreciated more reference to specific dates. I couldn’t easily keep track of when events were happening, or how long certain parts of the trial lasted, and I wished to know those things.
Nuclear War: A Scenario, by Annie Jacobsen. My short notes were “too dramatic and not enough facts.” I really enjoyed The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes, which I read in high school. The Making type of detail was what I wanted, and I found Nuclear War lacking in that area. What I found interesting was the clear way Jacobsen presented some of the complications of what would happen should a nuclear war commence.
Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver. I enjoyed this one. I had to read it rapidly, while traveling, and I deliberately raced through it. It reminded me that I’d like to read David Copperfield again, and then perhaps would enjoy a leisurely re-read of Demon.
Bones of Hilo, by Eric Redman. This was a fun mystery read.
Challenger, by Adam Higginbotham. This was my second favorite book read in 2024. It was pleasant enough. I guess it focused a bit on the stories of people and details about their lives and the whole astronaut selection process, and I found some of that not terribly interesting. Although the book itself, I did enjoy it. But the most interesting parts for me were what actually happened and how it came to happen. Somewhat like Higginbotham’s Midnight in Chernobyl, which was my favorite book read in 2019, I found the topic especially fascinating and I suppose because of that would like to read even more details in a book devoted to the subject.
Up in the Old Hotel, by Joseph Mitchell. This was my favorite book of the year. My notes read: “Wow, this was really something. I enjoyed the stories about NYC and the people. It reminded me of graduate school and times I have spent in and around New York City. The parts about fish, and oysters, and cemeteries, and the plants and natural history of Staten Island, were really enjoyable.”
I also signed quite a few books.
